"There is nothing quite like a Dinosaur Jr. album. The best ones are always recognizable from the first notes. And even though J tries to trip us up by smearing “Don’t Pretend You Didn’t Know” with keyboards, it’s clear from the...
A little background is required for reviewing Sebadoh’s debut album. It was 1988 and Lou Barlow, having been bounced out from under the oppressive regime that was quickly becoming J Mascis’ Dinosaur Jr. by the guitarist himself, went back to the absolute...
It's really hard to believe that the Bay Area's alternative radio station Live 105 has been putting on their annual "BFD" for eighteen years now, but indeed they have – and this year's edition proved to be one of their biggest yet. From...
As he sits and plans out how his next six weeks are going to go, Ryan Dahle can't help but smile. Much of that time period will be spent re-examining his mid-Nineties project Limblifter and, while he takes great care to make clear that “return” is...
Do me a favor. Hit the play button you see above as you read this. It’s a necessity. Nigga. Yea I said it. I was called it by a truck full of white dudes after 9/11 so I have as strong a claim to the word as those who are a darker shade of brown than me. So if...
As he sits and plans out how his next six weeks are going to go, Ryan Dahle can't help but smile. While much of that time period will be spent re-examining his mid-Nineties project Limblifter (he takes great care to make clear that “return” is probably...
Some records are able to grab a listener's attention for the simple reason that they sound exactly nothing like anything else on new release racks at that particular moment. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the catch is that after the album has managed...
As most people who came of age in the Seventies and Eighties can (and will) tell you, Todd Rundgren's impact on pop music is near-incalculable. Both with The Nazz and as a solo artist, Rundgren co-wrote and recorded some of the great rock standards which...
Those patently foolish idealists under the mistaken impression that great music always gets noticed by the record-buying public need to go out and find a copy of The Pink Album by the Avengers. Since its original release in 1983 (four years after the band broke up),...
Okay, all you hipsters, you need this CD. Throw a few of these cuts on your next “Party Playlist” and you can impress everyone with your appreciation of the hippest jazz and your ironic attitude towards classic rock. Or vice versa, if you prefer. Either...